Continuous casting plant



prll ll, 1967 J. BARBE ETAL CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 9, 1964 NEW Nso a,

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' ATTORNEYS April 11, 1967 J. BARB ETAL CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT 2 Sheets-sheet 2 Filed July 9, 1964 ATTORNEYS United States Patent() ice 3,313,006 CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT Jacques Barb, St.-Etienne, Loire, France, and Alfred Turnovszky, Zurich, Switzerland, assignors t Aktiengesellschaft der von MoosSchen Eisenwerke, Lucerne, Switzerland and to Concast AG., Zurich, Switzerland Filed July 9, 1964, Ser. No; 381,405 Claims priority, application Switzerland, July 12, 1963,

3 Claims. (Cl. 22S7.2)

The present invention relates to continuous casting and more particularly relates to a continuous casting plant having an arcuately curved oscillable permanent mould attached to the end of a lever.

Mould oscillation along the issuing strand has the advantage of reducing the tendency of the strand to stick to the mould wall. Thus mould oscillation has been adopted for the purpose of improving the surface of the cast strand.

In continuous casting plant for casting curved castings in an arcuately curved mould, the path of the oscillatory motion must be along a circular arc about a fixed center coinciding with the center of the arc of curvature of the mould. In such plant the mould is therefore affixed to the end of a lever adapted to pivot about the said center.

It has also been proposed to cool such a mould with a coolant, such as water, and to supply the mould with a lubricant to prevent the casting from sticking. It may also be desirable to provide facilities for the supply of an inert gas to prevent oxidation of the molten metal. The pipe means which carry these uids to and away from the mould must be well protected from heat and they must also be readily detachable from the mould to permit the latter to be easily replaced. However, despite every precaution it is impossible to prevent sputtering metal and the oscillatory motion itself from damaging the hose pipes hitherto used for the supply and return of such fluids, and frequent renewals are `therefore needed. VThe replacement of such pipes naturally involves cessation of mold operation during which the plant is inactivated. In continuous casting operations the time spent in the preparation work prior to casting is already very long in relation to the time used for the actual process of casting, and any step which reduces the unproductive time is therefore most welcome to the metallurgist.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for a continuous casting plant for the casting of curved strands in which operating life is improved and in which component replacement time is reduced.

In accordance with this object there is provided a continuous casting plant in which an arcuately curved oscillable mould is mounted on the end of a lever and cooled by a coolant and in which at least one supply pipe for operational fluids is positioned in or on the said lever.

According to the invention the mould is conveniently attached to the end of the lever in such a way that the operation of -removing or replacing the mould at the end of the lever automatically disconnects and connects the pipe and the mould. This method of coupling eliminates the need of unprotected flexible and sensitve pipe means in the immediate neighborhood of the mould and at t'he same time it avoids the loss of time otherwise involved in detaching and reconnecting such pipe means whenever a mould is replaced, because the operation of laflixing and bolting a fresh mould to the lever at the same time also establishes communication between the mould and the pipe means in or on the lever.

However, the connections for conveying the fluid to 3,313,006 Patented Apr. 11, 1967 and from the lever may comprise lengths of flexible hose firmly -connected to the pivoted end of the lever. Because of the long radius of curvature the lever must be long and the distance from the mould to the pivoted end where the c-oupling is made is suiciently long so that flexible hose lare not `damaged by Itheat or sputtering metal. Moreover, owing to their proximity to the lever fulcrum the actual `deflections which the hose must sustain are relatively small so incident of fatigue fracture is in practice eliminated.

Nevertheless, if desired, exible lengths of hose at this end of the lever may likewise be eliminated, for instance by conducting the entering and returning uid through the pivot pin of the lever.

Moreover, the pipes for conveying the coolant to and from the mould may be constructed to have sufficient mechanical strength for the pipes themselves to form the lever. v

It is preferred that the pumping means for t'he operating uids and possibly a reservoir for at least one fluid should be accommodated in the lever. .Particularly for the supply of a lubricant Iand of a protective gas this has the advantage that the pump means and/or reservoirs are situated close to the points where the uids are needed to reduce pipe length and, thus uid friction losses and to provide better distribution of the fluids at the point of introduction. Moreover, piping is saved and the components are more compactly combined in a single structural u-nit.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the pipes for conveying operational liuids may be arranged to end in a frame which is adjustable in relation to the lever, the mould being aiixed to said frame. This provides a convenient facility for adjusting the mould according to operational conditions.

Having briefly described the present invention, it will be described in greater detail in the following portion of the specification, which may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectioned elevation view taken on the line I-I of FIG. 2, of a arcuately curved oscillable mould at the end of an oscillable lever, a mould mounting table, coolant pipes, lever bearings and oscillating mechanism,

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the mould taken on the line I-I-II of FIG. l,

FIG. 3 is a cross section, taken on the line III-III in FIG. 4, of lever pivot bearings lacking flexible pipe connecti-ons,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the :arrangement according to FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a partly sectioned elevation View showing the disposition of reservoir and pump means according to the invention,

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the arrangement according to FIG. 5 and,

FIG. 7 is a partially sectioned view of a mould mounting table carrying an adjustable frame.

In FIG. 1 there is shown an arcuately curved permanent continuous casting mould for the production of curved continuous castings. rl'lhis mould is contained in yan outer casing 2. The latter is formed with a flange 3 for bolting the same to a mould mounting table 5.

In order to prevent the ycontinuously cast strand S from sticking to the walls of the mould an oscillatory motion along a circular arc is imparted to the mould whilst casting proceeds, the radius of said circular arc being equal to the radius of curvature of the casting mould. To this end the mould mounting table 5 is secured to one end of a substantially horizontal lever 4. The other end 'of this lever 4 is attached to -a hinge member 6 permitting free pivotal deflectability of the lever about a hinge |pin 7. The fulcrum of lever 4, i.e., the centre of hinge pin 7, coincides with the centre of curvature of the arcuate mould. To deiiect the lever about the hinge pin 7 and thus, to oscilalte the mould rollers 8 are mounted on lever 4. These are attached to the lever by brackets 9 and ride on cams 10 in such manner that rotation of the cams pivotably raises and lowers the lever 4 about its hinge pin 7.

For cooling the permanent mould 1 with water, the casing 2 surrounding the mould comprises two concentric shells defining two jackets so contrived that water entering the casing is forced from an outer jacket to circulate over the wall of the mould before returning into the outer jacket and leaving the casing, as indicated by arrows in FIG. 1.

In the illustrated example the cooling water is taken to the inner jacket of the mould casing and withdrawn from the outer jacket of the mould casing through lever 4. To this end pipes 11 and 12 are built into the lever.

These pipes terminate in the mould mounting table V to which flange 3 is bolted in a tightly sealing manner. The flange is provided with apertures 13 and 14 which form continuations of the ends of pipes 11 and 12 in the mould table 5. These apertures 13 and 14 in the flange 3 directly communicate with the inlets and outlets in the mould casing 2. The arrangement is such that the ends of the pipes 11 which admit water through the lever, four such pipes being shown in the drawing, are located in a circle about a center in the mould axis. The ends of pipes 12 in lever 4 are located in the mould table 5 in asecond circle which is concentric with the rst. Through another set of holes 14 in flange 3 these latter pipes carry away the water leaving the outer jacket formed by the mould casing.

When a mould is replaced it is therefore unnecessary to disconnect and subsequently reconnect the pipe connections, since these connections are automatically made when the fresh mould is bolted to the mould table 5. Flexible lengths of hose, as hitherto used, are entirely absent and the damage they could sustain by sputtering metal, heat and fatigue due to continuous exing during mould oscillation cannot therefore arise in the arrangement which has been described. Instead of carrying away the cooling water through pipes 12 this water may be used for cooling the casting as it emerges from the continuous casting mould.

In the illustrated arrangement it should be noted that the bundles of pipes 11 and 12 are themselves mechanically suticiently strong to constitute the actual lever, their relative positions being maintained by thin sheet metal web members 15 (FIG. l).

Two variants -of the arrangement of the admission and' return pipes for cooling water to and from the pivoted end of the lever 4 remote from the mould are illustratively shown in the drawings.

In FIG. 1 pipe 11 which carries cooling water to the oscillating mould during operation is fed from a xed supply pipe 16 through short lengths of flexible hose 17 in the immediate vicinity of hinge pin 7, that is to say at a point where the amplitude of -oscillatory motion is very small. This small amplitude and the considerable distance of this point from the mould itself, which may here be between 2.5 and 6 metres (approx. 8 to 2O feet), justies the provision of short lengths of hose which are here quite safe from damage due to overheating, fatigue and sputtering metal. Consequently, the water returning from the mould through pipes 12 is likewise carried away through lengths of hose 18.

However, in suitable cases the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 eliminates the use of hose pipes for admitting and returning the water, by conducting the water through the hinge pin 7 of lever 4. To this end a blind hole 19 and 20 respectively is drilled axially into each end of the hinge pin 7. These blind holes each cornl municate through a radial duct with an annular chamber Ythe bushing 23 of hinge member 6. The ends of the admission and return pipes 11 and 12 forming the lever are inserted -into the wall of bushing 23 enclosing these chambers in such manner that all admission pipes communicate through annular chamber 21 with one of the blind holes 19 in hinge pin 7, whereas all the return pipes communicate through annular chamber 22 with the other blind hole 29 in pin 7. The two annular chambers'Zl and 22 may be relatively sealed, so that cooling water supplied for instance from a supply pipe 24 can iiow through hole 19 and annular chamber 21 into admission pipe 11 of the lever without the use of a exible hose pipe and then enter the mould in the manner previously described, again without having to pass through a length of flexible hose. Similarly the water returning through pipes 12 of the lever from the mould will enter annular chamber 22 and thence flow through the radial ducts into hole 20 in'pin 7 whence it can be carried away through a pipe 25 connected to this hole. The above mentioned sealing means may be omitted and the'water penetrating into the bearings used for lubricating the bearing.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate an arrangement as proposed by the invention for the supply of lubricant and of a protective gas to the Imould. The lubricant is introduced into the mould 1 by a distributor ring 40 and then flows down the mould Wall to the points where it is needed. The'distributor ring 40 is connected to flange 3 by a pipe 41. This pipe 41 communicates with a further pipe 42 which ends lin the mould mounting table 5. Therefore when the mould casing 2 is detached from the mould mounting table 5 the oil admission pipe is automatically broken. The described arrangement therefore eliminates the need of specially undoing and later reconnecting oil pipes and the time otherwise wasted for doing this work when a mould is replaced is thus saved. Pipe 42 is supplied With lubricant by a pump 43 mounted in the lever itself.` This pump 43 which is driven by an electric motor 44 regulates the rate of feed of lubricant from a reservoir 45 likewise contained in the lever.

At the same time provision is made for the supply of a protective gas to mould 1 through a further distributor head 50. This latter distributor head 50 -is also connected with flange 3 by a pipe 51. This pipe 51 communicates with a pipe 52 ending in the mould mounting table 5 and leading to a second reservoir in the form of a cylinder 53 for protective gas, also located in lever 4. When the mould casing 2 is removed from the mould mounting table 5 the connection with this latter pipe for protective vgas is likewise automatically undone without additional manipulations.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment comprising adjusting means for the mould 1. The mould mounting table is again attached to lever 4. However, in this form of construction the lever 4 is made of steel sections. The mould mounting table 5 carries a frame 70 to which the pipes 71 and 72 for cooling Water are attached. The ends of these pipes are flexible. The mould mounting table 5 has an opening for the passage therethrough of the ends of pipes 71 and 72. On each side of the mould the frame is provided with slots 73. Bolts 74 are passed through the slots for securing frame 70 to table 5. The provision of the slots permits the frame 70 to be adjusted in a plane normal to the mould axis. Precise adjustment of frame '70 in relation to lever 4 is effected by means of a screw 75 in each of the four sides of table 5. Moreover, adjusting screws 76 for levelling the mould 1 are also provided on each of the four sides of the table. The mould 1 is secured to frame 70 by bolts 77. Other fluids are supplied in additional pipes corresponding to pipes 71 and 72 though not specially shown.

What'is claimed is:

1. A continuous casting plant comprising an arcuately curved open-ended mould, said mould being provided with a water jacket having passages for cooling water ow therethrough, said mould being provided with a mounting flange including apertures communicating with said passages in said water jacket, a lever, one end of said lever being pivotally mounted, a mould mounting table located at the other end of said lever, said mould mounting table being provided with apertures mating with the apertures in said mounting tlange of said mould to couple said apertures when said mould is mounted in said lever, at least one pipe positioned along said lever and connecting said apertures in said mould mounting table to a source of cooling water at said pivoted end of said lever, thereby to enable feeding of cooling water to said jacket from a source Separated from said casting mould and to enable replacement of said mould with-out disconnecting said scource.

2. A continuous casting plant in accordance with claim 1, which includes a plurality of pipes coupling said mould table to said pivotal mounting to provide paths for the transmission and return of water to said jacket of said mould and in which said pipes are positioned and coupled together to serve as said lever.

3. A continuous casting plant in accordance with claim 1, in which said pivotal mounting of one end `of said lever comprises a bushing, a pin rotatably mounted in said bushing, means coupling said lever to said pin, a rst and secondannular chamber formed between said pin and said bushing, a first pipe coupled between said rst chamber and said mould mounting table, a second pipe coupled between said second chamber and said mould mounting table, an inlet coupling communicating with said rst chamber through said pin and an outlet coupling communicating with said second chamber through said pin so that cooling water may be admitted and extracted from said plant at a position remote from said mould.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,586,517 2/1952 Coles 239-244 X 2,947,075 8/ 1960 Schneckenburger et al.

I. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

R. S. ANNEAR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CONTINUOUS CASTING PLANT COMPRISING AN ARCUATELY CURVED OPEN-ENDED MOULD, SAID MOULD BEING PROVIDED WITH A WATER JACKET HAVING PASSAGES FOR COOLING WATER FLOW THERETHROUGH, SAID MOULD BEING PROVIDED WITH A MOUNTING FLANGE INCLUDING APERTURES COMMUNICATING WITH SAID PASSAGES IN SAID WATER JACKET, A LEVER, ONE END OF SAID LEVER BEING PIVOTALLY MOUNTED, A MOULD MOUNTING TABLE LOCATED AT THE OTHER END OF SAID LEVER, SAID MOULD MOUNTING TABLE BEING PROVIDED WITH APPARATUS MATING WITH THE APPARATUS IN SAID MOUNTING FLANGE OF SAID MOULD TO COUPLE SAID APERTURES WHEN SAID MOULD IS MOUNTED IN SAID LEVER, AT LEAST ONE PIPE POSITINED ALONG SAID LEVER AND CONNECTING SAID APERTURES IN SAID MOULD MOUNTING TABLE TO A COURSE OF COOLING WATER AT SAID JPIVOTED END OF SAID LEVER, THEREBY TO ENABLE FEEDING OF COOLING WATER TO SAID JACKET FROM A SOURCE SEPARATED FROM SAID KCASTING MOULD AND TO ENABLE REPLACEMENT OF SAID MOULD WITHOUT DISCONNECTING SAID SOURCE. 